i'm 2nd owner of the car and there's a TON of caked-on crap inside the cover for the gas thing (what is that called anyway?) washed it thoroughly with regular wash, anyone recommendations on solvent to use? only about 50% of the stuff came off, and it's some nasty junk. car's an '02 so it's 5 years worth of crap

 

Simple Green and some terry clothes.

 

Its hard to get in there, yours is an '02 so it might be different than mine, but there are door braces and brakets and things that its hard to clean. I just cleaned the parts I could with some Amway polishing conpound and a microfiber towel. Came out well IMO.

 

simple green don't kill the paint? can you use it full-strength? what about another degreaser?

 

Simple green will ruin paint

Use a citrus degreaser

 

Is the paint starting to yellow? I have seen several Maximas that has rust and yellowing inside the cover

 

Is this the inside of the gas door that we are talking about?

 

yeah, it's the inside of the gas door

can't tell if the paint is yellowing cause it's got a but of a film on it. it's discolored, but i don't know if it's the paint.

 

A good all purpose cleaner or citrus-based cleaner will work. It would probably be a good idea to dilute whatever you use. Never use simple green unless its properly diluted. Just be sure to rinse all around the gas tank door to make sure the surrounding paint is cleaned.

 

Take the door off and it might be easier to clean.

 

^^^^^^Exactly what I did when I first bought & detailed my max. Take it right off. If the actual door is nasty on the inner part then ya can submerge it in a mild warm soapy water solution and let it soak for a bit to loosen up the gunk. As for the inner I would remove everything possible by hand with a car wash mixture and terry cloth, then use an automotive simple green to clean up the harder parts. When finished with simple green, rewash the whole area quickly with car wash soap to remove the solvent's residue.

 

if simple green is non-toxic, biodegradable, and environmentally safe, why does it ruin paint?

but back to the subject, just do what maximabebe said and you should be good.